A new firmware update has rolled out to Xbox Alpha Skip Ahead rings this week that introduces yet another great new feature to Microsoft’s family of Xbox One consoles.
This time it’s the introduction of Dolby Atmos audio ‘upmixing’ for people using home theater systems. In other words, processing that can turn non-Dolby Atmos sound (from games or movies) into Dolby Atmos. Or, at least, something close to it.
What’s more, this new upmixing processing isn’t just approved by Dolby; it’s actually been designed by Dolby, with all of the brand’s decades of experience behind it.
If you’re not familiar with Dolby Atmos, it’s a so-called ‘object based’ sound platform that creates a three-dimensional sound space around you into which sound effects are placed, rather than sounds just appearing at your speakers.
The extra sense of immersion this can create compared with non object-based sound systems is remarkable – and particularly effective with games.
The Xbox introduced playback of true Dolby Atmos sound for games and movie discs in 2017. Since then, the sound format has delivered some fantastic results with games that have chosen to support the audio feature. Most notably
Assassin’s Creed: Origins, the new
Metro Exodus, and, perhaps best of all,
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. So the prospect of being able to enjoy something approaching that sort of immersive sound quality with all games on Dolby Atmos-capable home theater systems is mouthwatering.